She shot a pregnant woman outside of a Wawa in Delco. Now she’ll face a judge on first-degree murder.
A district judge upheld murder and related charges that Evelena Williams faces in connection with the fatal shooting of Latoya Davis, who was six months pregnant with her son, according to her family.
Darryl Davis had only one thing on his mind Wednesday morning as he listened to a Delaware County prosecutor describe the actions of a Southwest Philadelphia woman accused of killing his daughter Latoya, a mother of two pregnant with her first son.
“Right now, I just miss her,” Davis said after District Judge Michael Burns upheld murder charges against Evelena Williams in the Oct. 5 shooting. “I’m satisfied that the charges stuck, but I just want Latoya to be remembered as a happy, outgoing person. That’s all.”
Williams, 30, will face a county judge on two counts of murder: for allegedly gunning down Latoya Davis, 32, outside a Wawa on MacDade Boulevard in Collingdale and for allegedly killing Davis’ unborn son, with whom she was six months pregnant, according to her family.
Williams’ attorney, Anna Hinchman, argued during her client’s preliminary hearing that she had no idea Davis was pregnant and had no intent to kill her unborn child.
The two women, who did not know each other, had begun arguing inside the Wawa after arriving at nearly the same time, according to testimony during the hearing. Afterward, Davis stood next to her car, blocking Williams from getting into her own, which was parked in an adjacent spot.
Davis and Williams got into a confrontation outside the vehicles, during which Davis threw an unknown object at Williams, prosecutors said. In response, Williams drew a Ruger .380 handgun she was licensed to carry and shot Davis once as her back was turned to her.
Afterward, Williams attempted to provide CPR to Davis, handed her gun over to police, and cooperated with investigators, Hinchman said. She also expressed remorse when she learned the next day that Davis had been pregnant, according to testimony Wednesday.
“Those are not the actions of someone who had a specific intent to kill,” Hinchman said.
But Assistant District Attorney Daniel Kerley countered her theory of the case, saying that Williams had targeted a vital part of Davis’ body during their argument. He asserted that Williams, at the very least, intended to kill Davis.
The prosecutor said that first-degree murder was also applicable to Davis’ unborn son under the legal principle of transferred intent: the idea that if a person intends to harm someone, but inadvertently harms another, that initial intent to harm applies to the second victim.
Burns, the judge, held Williams for trial on all charges.
After the hearing, Davis’ uncle Anthony Lovett said that the true tragedy of this killing is that “two families were destroyed.” Williams, he said, has three children of her own.
“I just wished they would put the guns down,” Lovett said. “She had a license to carry, but she didn’t have the right to shoot an unarmed woman. It just wasn’t right.”